oh wait, you're right
by Pawprinter
Summary: While pretending to be Josephine, Russell tells Clarke all about Bellamy's very obvious feelings for a certain blonde. [set post-6x11]


**This fic contains spoilers for season 6 episode 11. It was written before 6x12 aired, and it was almost a 6x12 prediction fic. It is based off the events of all previously established canon, including 6x11.**

**Warning: this fic contains coarse language.**

**This fic is written for Bellarke Bingo on Tumblr. With this event, you're given a custom board with 25 prompts on it, and the goal is to put as many as possible into fics. With this one-shot, I am crossing off "canon compliant" and "forced to confess feelings."**

**This fic is based off my friend Ro's idea ("What if Russell, thinking he's talking to Josephine, says something along the lines of, "We need to watch out for Bellamy Blake. He loved Clarke, he'll burn us all at the stake for her." And Clarke's just there like [shocked emoji]").**

**Enjoy! Reviews are appreciated!**

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**oh wait, you're right**

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_Two Primes. _

That's all that was left of the Sanctum leadership. Simone was dead, Ryker was dead, Josephine was dead. All Clarke had to worry about was tricking Russell and Priya into thinking she was actually Josephine.

That should be easy enough, right?

_Right. _Clarke was assured by the fact she witnessed a large chunk of Josephine's memories. She spent a lot of time with the girl, and she knew her better than almost anyone, considering she had seen the inside of her mind.

_This was going to work out. _It had to. Her people were relying on her. Madi was relying on her. Bellamy was relying on her.

Her heart clenched when she thought of him. She couldn't think of his name without hearing his voice calling for her to live. She couldn't think of him without seeing how broken he was when she thought she was lost again.

Clarke pushed the thought of him out of her mind, choosing to focus entirely on the plate of food in front of her. She couldn't allow her mind to wander. She had to stay focused.

_She couldn't afford a mistake._

"We should have enough bone marrow to make a dozen of our people hosts by the end of the week," Russell stated when there was a lull in conversation around the dinner table.

Clarke pushed down the burning rage inside of her from hearing that. They were getting that bone marrow from her daughter and it made her want to tear this society down, brick by brick.

She kept a close hold on her emotions.

"And what then?" Priya questioned. Her gaze was hard and calculated. "What happens after we get our people back? What will we do about the… the _Earth _problem?"

Russell's nose wrinkled. "The Earth problem is exactly that — a problem." His eyes swept to Clarke's. "Josie, you spent a lot of time with them. You know them. What's our best course of action?"

Clarke kept her expressions hidden behind a mask. Her heart was racing in her chest, yet she kept her composure.

_She couldn't fail._

"Hard to say. This place went to shit while I was gone." She kept her hand from shaking as she lifted her fork to her lips. "Mom's dead. Ryker — that idiot — is also dead. The child killed the others. People know our secrets. Rebellions — no matter how small and insignificant they are — are popping up. Their people have either been imprisoned, operated on, or have escaped. They were all tied to the stake, the threat of burning alive made." She shrugged with disinterest. "I don't know what they will do in retaliation. If I was here, they wouldn't have anything to retaliate against. I had it handled."

Russell frowned. "You weren't here, that's right, and things got out of control. It might be of our interest to stop thinking of what might have been, and start focusing on what is happening."

"Your father's right, Josephine," Priya assured her. "Things would have been different if you hadn't been taken, but you were. We're wasting time discussing how you could've changed things."

"All I meant was I don't know what these people are thinking because I wasn't here. Seeing and hearing are two different things, you know." She smiled sweetly and took another bite of her meal. "While you were helping create the Earth problem in here, I was being dragged around the forest with one very angry Bellamy Blake."

Russell's expression shifted at that. "Bellamy Blake," he echoed. Clarke's heart clenched at the way he spoke his name. A chill went up her spine. "Now _there's _a problem."

Red flags waved in her mind. She needed to draw attention _away _from him, not _to _him.

"He was desperate," she agreed, keeping her voice even. "Desperate people do stupid things."

"That they do." His eyes focused on her again. "Tell me what you know about him."

Her heart froze.

"What?" She fought to keep her facade. "He's… he's not going to be a problem, dad. He's in the forest with the Children of Gabriel. He knows Clarke's dead — he might not exactly be _happy _about it, but he'll get over it. He—"

Russell's eyes snapped to Priya. "Priya. Leave us."

She looked hesitant, but she stood from her seat at the table and left the room without another word. As soon as the doors shut behind her, Russel focused on Clarke again.

"He's a threat," he insisted . "I need you to tell me everything you know about him."

Clarke was panicking. She wasn't going to tell him anything about Bellamy — no, she couldn't. She'd be putting him in danger if she did.

_But if she didn't, she'd be putting the rest of them in danger too._

Shit.

"No point," she said, her voice cracking. "The radiation shield is up. He's a null, so he can't get through. Sure, he might be upset, but what's he going to do? The Children of Gabriel couldn't get through the shield either, so it's not like they'll be much help to him."

His expression gave nothing away. "We need to be careful, Josie," he hissed. "We can't underestimate this one."

She swallowed thickly, but tried to hide her discomfort by taking a long sip of water. She glanced at him over the rim of her cup.

"What's so special about him?"

Russell eyed her suspiciously. Clarke twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, desperate to convince him of her identity.

His suspicion didn't cease, and she realized he wasn't doubting who she was — he was doubting what she said.

"When he first learned Clarke was dead, he was the one we had trouble with. He was hell-bent on making us pay, and only stopped when the lives of his family were hanging in the balance. He did everything he could to get you out when he found out Clarke was still alive. What do you think he will do now that she's dead for good?"

Clarke was desperate to crush Russell's fears surrounding Bellamy. If he was worried about what actions he was going to take in retaliation, the less chance they would have of pulling this plan off.

Russell needed to be reassured that nothing bad was going to happen. He had to be taken off red alert, so they could slip in between his defenses. This was the only way it could work.

She tried to keep her tone nonchalant. "He thought she was dead before, you know," she said simply. "Back on Earth. He thought she died in the radiation wave that killed the planet."

Russell lifted his eyebrows in intrigue.

"He left her behind to die, and he lived for six years thinking she was gone. He moved on. He started a new life. He forgot about her." She shrugged, even though her heart stung with her words. "He moved on once, he'll do it again. We don't have to worry about him."

Russell shook his head. "You're wrong. That may have been the case before, but that isn't the same Bellamy now. He was willing to risk everything to keep her safe."

Clarke lifted her eyebrows. "And?"

"And he already knows what it's like to live in a world with Clarke Griffin, based on what you told me. I have a feeling that, knowing how hard it was to move on the first time, he isn't willing to do that again. He's not going to be willing to live in a world without her."

Her mind was racing. The words he spoke sang to her. If she was being honest, they were pieces of her deepest desires — that Bellamy would fight for her, that he wasn't going to let her go again.

_"I'm not losing you again," _he told her only hours before. _"Clarke. I need you. I'm not letting you go."_

Her heart skipped a beat at the words she heard as she fought for her life. Somehow, Russell understood Bellamy than she gave him credit for.

Clarke scoffed as she imagined Josephine would. "What's so different then? Nothing's changed. We're fine."

"What's different?" he echoed. "Josie… He is in love with Clarke."

The world froze. The air got sucked from her lungs. She was so shocked that she struggled to breathe.

_Love? _

No. Impossible.

Bellamy wasn't in love with her.

_Her mind was spinning. _

"No," she said quickly. She forced herself to remain impassive and disinterested, despite her thoughts and emotions buzzing. "I didn't get that impression. You're wrong."

"I know love when I see it," he argued.

She bit the inside of her cheek. How could he be so wrong about something? Bellamy didn't love her — he couldn't. He had Echo. He was in love with Echo.

With that thought solidified, she spoke. "I don't think he was _in _love with her. Maybe friendly platonic love."

"Josephine," he said, his voice growing more frustrated. "I trust you're not that dense."

She was telling the truth though. Out of everything they spoke about since her return, this was the one thing that had come straight from _her, _not something she imagined Josephine would think.

Bellamy wasn't in love with her.

No way.

He couldn't be — not when he had Echo, and his family, and his priorities.

"You've been in her mind. You have to know the truth."

_The truth? _This was the truth. Bellamy didn't love her like that. He couldn't.

Then, she thought back to when she woke up after her heart stopped beating. How his lips were inches from hers, having just pulled back from breathing life into her. How tears filled his eyes, from desperation and longing. How his voice cracked from emotion. How broken he looked.

(That looked like a man in love. She'd seen it before — she recognized that desperate expression.)

She swallowed thickly.

_No. _He didn't love her like that. His reaction was because they were friends and they cared about each other. It was as simple as that.

(But would he react the same way if it was Murphy dying, not her?)

(She already knew that answer from when they first arrived on the moon.)

Clarke struggled to speak. "The truth? I'm not following, dad."

He sighed heavily. "I'm not too sure that Clarke even knew the truth, but you must've seen it. You wouldn't be so reluctant to connect the dots as she might've been."

She tried to play along. "That he is in love with her?"

The words felt strange on her tongue, yet they felt so right. Bellamy and love seemed to fit so well together.

Russel gave her a pointed look that seemingly dug into her soul. "Not just that."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Then what?"

"She was in love with him too."

With those words, the air rushed out of her lungs like she'd been punched in the gut. Her mind spun like the world had been tilted around her. Her heart raced, the blood pounding in her ears like a drum.

_Shit._

Somehow, hearing it out loud, she knew the truth. She couldn't deny it anymore.

_She was in love with Bellamy._

Clarke thought back to how his lips were inches away from hers after reviving her, and how — for a split second — she dreamed of rocking forward and capturing them with her own.

She thought of how she felt like she couldn't breathe when she thought of a life without him.

She thought of how it was his smile she thought of when she struggled to keep the clouds at bay. How she sought his eyes in a room full of people. How she wanted to share everything about herself with him — her dreams, her struggles, her regrets.

She thought of calling him everyday for six years. Of how her biggest regret was leaving him in Polis. How she sobbed when she realized how bad she fucked everything up with him, and how horrible it would be not to have him in her life.

_Fuck. _Hearing it out loud allowed things to finally click together.

When she spoke, the words flowed from her mouth seemingly on their own. "You're right," she said without hesitation. She locked eyes with Russell. "She is in love with him too."

_And she was so screwed._


End file.
